Autistic voices in autism education research

Authors

Abstract

Autistic children and young people have the right to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives, including in research. Participatory research, where autism researchers and members of the autistic and autism communities work together as partners in the research process, ensures that research is more tailored to people’s needs, relevant to their everyday lives, and consistent with their values. It should also promote empowerment, personal development, and self-esteem in community members. Despite these potential advantages, participatory research is rare in the field of autism – and even rarer still in the field of autism education. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the few existing studies that use participatory processes within autism education research, including the methods used that ensured that young autistic people were active participants in the research process and that their views and experiences were taken seriously. We end by discussing some of the challenges faced by researchers in conducting participatory research within autism education and make several recommendations for future research and practice.

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